Powdered Eggs

[Jim_C]

I figure with all of the hunting, fishing, and camping experience on this forum, and plenty of folks who have had meals which included scrambled eggs made from powdered eggs, I can ask some questions and gain some knowledge from the expertise here at SMF.

But before that a bit of history......We were at our second place and ran out of eggs. We were leaving the next day and didn't want to run out and get a dozen eggs. I thought...never again, got on Amazon and ordered powdered eggs. That was a couple of months ago. This morning we wanted eggs and only had one left. I thought....great time to try those powdered eggs. God awful. Dry, pasty, tasted somewhat like eggs. I threw most of it away.

I had bought 'ReadyWise Simple Kitchen - Powdered Eggs'. I looked at the ingredients and it says "Less than 2% Sodium Silicoaluminate, Whole Eggs". So there eggs.

My questions are:

• Is there a brand you have used specifically and like?
• What sets that brand apart for you?
• Does dry and pasty mean not enough water?
• The color was kind of brown-yellow. Is that standard for reconstituted powdered eggs when they are cooked?
• Do you doctor them up, and if so, with what?

Thanks in advance...................

 

[SmokinEdge]

I have zero experience here, but I would think that freeze dried eggs would be a much better option. I’ll be curious what others experience says.

 

[zwiller]

I went down this rabbit hole but did not grab any. Cliff notes, they work well for cooking/baking but NOT for straight up as cooked eggs. LOTS of much better options. Go to GFS they sell all sorts of egg stuff like this: https://gfsstore.com/en-us/products/762861/

 

[thirdeye]

Even in my backpacking days I never used powdered eggs.

For regular camping where I live..., garbage is a big deal, especially in bear country, so when we took fresh eggs I would crack them into a wide mouth plastic bottle. Otherwise Egg Beaters are an okay option because 99% of the time, breakfast burritos worked the best. I precook sausage, bacon or take sliced ham (which is also good for lunch sandwiches).

 

[SmokinEdge]

Here is a read with some information.


https://unlimited-recipes.com/powdered-eggs-vs-freeze-dried-eggs/

 

[normanaj]

MRE is always an option.

 

[Steve H]

Had my share while in the Army in the 80's. Best solution? Hot sauce. Lots and lots of hot sauce.

 

[ajbert]

I was in the Navy for a number of years and made 11 deployments. When the ship ran out of real eggs the cooks would break out the powder eggs. That is when I turned to yogurt and toast for breakfast. Once we got stores delivered is when I went back to the regular breakfast that was real eggs.

Never tried the liquid egg stuff in the stores, though.

 

[cpaysonc]

We freeze dry raw, scrambled eggs from our girls, they reconstitute very well as scrambled eggs. Our main reason for doing it is to make use of our excess eggs.

 

[LanceR]

Jim_C ,

Your experience was normal for powdered eggs regardless of the marketing hype. Powdered eggs are best reserved for baking.

For camping, they are best used when doing things like repackaging baking mixes, off the shelf or homemade, and can be used with fresh milk, non-fat dry milk or Nido dry whole milk (found in the Latin section of most stores). We add the powdered eggs and milk powder to baking mixes in freezer weight zipper bags at home and write the water amount and baking instructions on the bag. When ready to bake or make pancakes we mix the dry ingredients and water right in the bag so there's less cleanup on site.

What you want for scrambled eggs or omelettes is either freeze dried eggs or, better for most things, OvaEasy Egg Crystals. OvaEasy egg crystals cook up like fresh eggs in scrambled eggs or omelettes and work great for baking and sauces.

They are somewhat pricey and can sometimes be hard to find but are well worth the cost for occasional use. They come in pouches that hold either 5 or 12 eggs worth of egg crystals. Just add water and cook as usual.

On backpacking or canoe trips we use the smaller bag which is a 5-egg equivalent. It is a good size for my wife and I as I usually have three eggs and she usually has two eggs. When looked at on a per-egg basis the smaller pouches are sometimes a better bargain. When getting ready to pack meals at home we buy whichever size is more cost effective at the time.

The Nido milk is can be used as soon as it is mixed but for drinking it can be a tiny bit grainy in the first few minutes after mixing. It is indistinguishable from fesh whole milk if it sits for little while after reconstituting it. Our experience has been that when buying the larger cans the cost of the Nido milk powder is the same as buying fresh milk.

I hope some of this rambling helps......

 

[Jim_C]

Jim_C ,

Your experience was normal for powdered eggs regardless of the marketing hype. Powdered eggs are best reserved for baking.

For camping, they are best used when doing things like repackaging baking mixes, off the shelf or homemade, and can be used with fresh milk, non-fat dry milk or Nido dry whole milk (found in the Latin section of most stores). We add the powdered eggs and milk powder to baking mixes in freezer weight zipper bags at home and write the water amount and baking instructions on the bag. When ready to bake or make pancakes we mix the dry ingredients and water right in the bag so there's less cleanup on site.

What you want for scrambled eggs or omelettes is either freeze dried eggs or, better for most things, OvaEasy Egg Crystals. OvaEasy egg crystals cook up like fresh eggs in scrambled eggs or omelettes and work great for baking and sauces.

They are somewhat pricey and can sometimes be hard to find but are well worth the cost for occasional use. They come in pouches that hold either 5 or 12 eggs worth of egg crystals. Just add water and cook as usual.

On backpacking or canoe trips we use the smaller bag which is a 5-egg equivalent. It is a good size for my wife and I as I usually have three eggs and she usually has two eggs. When looked at on a per-egg basis the smaller pouches are sometimes a better bargain. When getting ready to pack meals at home we buy whichever size is more cost effective at the time.

The Nido milk is can be used as soon as it is mixed but for drinking it can be a tiny bit grainy in the first few minutes after mixing. It is indistinguishable from fesh whole milk if it sits for little while after reconstituting it. Our experience has been that when buying the larger cans the cost of the Nido milk powder is the same as buying fresh milk.

I hope some of this rambling helps......

A lot of great information..........Thanks.....................

 

[Kvgsqtii]

I was in the Navy for a number of years and made 11 deployments. When the ship ran out of real eggs the cooks would break out the powder eggs. That is when I turned to yogurt and toast for breakfast. Once we got stores delivered is when I went back to the regular breakfast that was real eggs.

Never tried the liquid egg stuff in the stores, though.

Yeah about 2 weeks into an underway on the sub, the fresh eggs would run out and we'd get the powdered eggs. Luckily the Frank's Redhot didn't spoil so we had plenty of that. They weren't the worst if you got them fresh out of the kitchen, but would start to turn green pretty quick on the hot bar. Mmmmm Mmmmm, don't miss green eggs.